Strangers in a Strange Land
by MsPhilboydStudge
Summary: Returning back from king Ecbert's side Athelstan found out that he was not the only foreigner among the Vikings.
1. The Nonbeliever

With heavy heart Athelstan placed his crucifix on the desk. He glanced his work one last time. _It's the right decision_, he assured himself, _Ragnar is waiting for me_. It's never easy to choose between doing what you are passionate about and people who are dear to you. He silenty shut the crypt's door behind him.

After arriving back to Viking camp and changing his clothes more Norman like rather than Christian monk, Athelstan took a look around in the campground. His sight stopped on an open tent, where he believed to be a field hospital. There were troubled looking Lagertha and one other shield-maiden kneeling over a lying body on the ground. He decided to find out whether he could help them somehow. "Lagertha, is everything alright?" asked the Saxon.  
>And before the earl of Hedeby could answer him, Athelstan open his mouth once more, since he saw that the lying body belong to a young woman who's body had no battle wounds, and a new question was formed: "Is she dead? She didn't die in the battle did she?"<br>"No!" shouted Lagertha, "She is breathing, are you blind? She's just a skin-changer and right now her mind and spirit are not here, but somewhere in the forest wandering around in the body of some sort of beast."  
>He nodded, but the way how Lagertha looked Athelstan made him feel ignorant. Had he missed an obvious folk tale about skin-changers? He couldn't recall any of these stories.<br>He took another look at this woman. She was bit shorter than average Viking woman and so was her hair – its tips barely touched her shoulders. Also her face paint seemed peculiar and obscure – a horizontal black line ran across her eyes and there were three dark stripes on both of her cheeks. She reminded him of Floki.  
>Suddenly, the lass started breath heavily and her shut eyes rapidly move. Lagertha and the other shield-maiden tried to avoid her getting any injuries, if the twitches should start, by pushing her body against the ground. A little black beetle landed on her cheek and crawled to her nose.* The skin-changer started hyperventilating and all the sudden she opened her eyes tearing her hands free from the grasp of Lagertha and the other lady. She seemed absolutely horrified and shocked. <em>It looks like she has woken up from a nightmare<em>, went through Athelstan's mind.  
>"Eha, take a deep breath," comforted Lagertha now trembling woman on the ground and added, "tell me what happened."<br>"De-de-de deer I was in got shot by an arrow and died," mumbled Eha, " I didn't notice dat dere were hunter's in de forest while I was trying to any soldiers from dere."  
>"And were there any soldiers?" demanded Lagertha. The skin-changer shook her head and denied the presence of soldiers besides few of their own.<br>Athelstan felt like he had seen too much. Did this girl just exit her body? Could her soul really be separated from her body without dying? How was that possible? Did she trick the Gods? He turned over and stepped out of the tent. That moment the skin-changer noticed that a stranger had witnessed her soul travelling.  
>"Who is he? I didn't see him on de boat when we came here," asked the girl from Lagertha.<br>"His name is Athelstan and he's a friend of Ragnar Lothbrok," explained the shield-maiden.

"Eha, get down from that prow!" shouted Lagertha laughingly. That sentence drew Athelstan's attention to the situation which was going on in the bow. A limber figure had been climbed on the dragon head. He recognised that it was the skin-changer.  
>"I see storm clouds gadering ahead!" yelled the girl on the serpent-shaped bowsprit, then she carefully slided down from the figure and returned to the company of Lagertha.<br>"Are you sure? Maybe you should turn into a seagull and check it out?" mocked Floki and approached the women.  
>"Maybe, Floki, you should just ask if you want climb on the prow?" Ragnar scoffed at him. The ship carpenter cast a disapproving glange at the earl of Kattegat.<br>"No, I see dat well enough wid my own eyes," replied Eha and smiled. Floki poked her forehead and told, "There's nothing besides beasts and dead souls in your little head, eastern witch. Remember, that you are another foreigner for us. Just like that priest."  
>That made Eha wrinkle her nose for a moment and stick her tongue at the spleenful man. Then she laughed since her sudden reaction had made Floki look confused.<br>"What priest?" she inquired amusedly and explored surrounding, since she couldn't remember seeing someone that looked like a holy man.  
>"He's talking about me," replied Athelstan, who was now also caught in the conversation.<br>"You?" surprised Eha, "You don't look like an any priest I've seen before."  
>"He's Christian," snarled Floki without giving the opportunity to Athelstan to answer himself.<br>"But Christian priests don't look like dat," stated the woman distrustfully.  
>"And how would you know?" the carpenter demanded to know.<br>"I've seen dem in Soontagana," claimed Eha proudly.  
>"Soon-what?" ridiculed Floki.<br>"Soontagana and it's somewhere in Adalsysla," defended Lagertha seeing that Floki's verbal attacks had become more vicious against her servant. The carpenter only hissed and turned over to leave.

It was the welcoming celebration in Kattekat, when Athelstan encountered again the odd woman. Now she was clothed in a dark green dress and a long somber scarf covered her face and chest area. She wore no face paint anymore. Over all she was timid looking, but obscure.  
>"Greetings... priest," said the lass through her scarf.<br>"Good evening," spoke the Saxon and added, "You may just call me Athelstan."  
>"I know your name, Adelstan, but everyone here refers you as priest," stated Eha and her uncovered eyes relieved her suspicion.<br>"Not everyone," claimed the man and continued, "Why is your face covered? Is everything alright?"  
>"How come dey call priest, when you don't seem like one? You don't seem like a Christian eider. Where's your necklace ding wid de cross? Or was it just nonsense what Floki told?" inquired Eha ignoring all Athelstan's questions. Her gaze became tenser. Saxon had nothing more to do then sigh and give her his answer, "I was a Christian monk in Northumbria, but Ragnar Lothbrok and his companions raided the monastery I lived in. My life was spared and they brought me here as a slave."<br>She hummed and nodded, "But still you believe in dat god called Jesus Christ?"  
>That question made Athelstan feel anxious, although he assumed that Eha would ask him that.<br>"I... I am not sure anymore," was all he could say. He looked down.  
>The response what he got was unexpected. "Interesting," the only word that was heard from her lips. The man's face was puzzled. He just glared the obscure looking lass.<br>"I assume dat dose Norse gods are really powerful for you den. For me dey seem to be just anoder kind of spirits, just like dat Christian god," declaring that her eyes looked genuinely keened in the Saxon's matter of belief. At that moment Floki happened to pass by them and hearing what Eha had said about his gods made him to give a angry look at her. The carpenter moved on leaving both foreign confused by his look.  
>"Just spirits?" Athelstan finally opened his mouth.<br>"We should continue our conversation somewhere else. Shall we take a walk outside?" suggested lass. The man nodded and they head out of the earl's hall and continued to stroll at the beach.  
>"De answer to your question is yes, of course. I don't get de idea of gods. It's strange for me. Why should some spirits be superior dan odhers?" explained Eha.<br>"Because they are not ordinary spirits? Don't people where you're from believe in any god?" he smiled friendly, but the concept of having no god at all was very new to him.  
>"In Soontagana? No and dere are non in Reval, Sakala nor anywhere else in this land what Norse men call Adalsysla," told the lass.<br>"But what or who do you believe in then?" Athelstan did not conceal his confusion.  
>"We worship de spirits of nature and our ancestors. And dere are also elves and faeries and odher non-human creatures," was Eha's answer. Hearing about the other "non-human creatures" gave the Saxon shivers down his spine. Suddenly he remembered something that the lass had said on the ship, "But what about the Christians priest who you saw in your homeland?"<br>"Oh, dey just wanted to convert our beliefs and baptise us," she giggled and added, "Dey gave me a really funny name."  
>"How come funny?" Athelstan looked surprised. Eha stopped walking, placed her hands on man's shoulder to pull herself close to his ear and gently whispered, "It sounded like a moan – Hann-AHH!" After relieving her Christian name to him, she stepped back and chuckled in her scarf. Athelstan felt uncomfortable and his cheeks and ears turned bright read.<br>"Hey, you look red as a lobster!" she laughed. That remark made him even more abashed. She continued to walk, "Are coming or did you turn into a salt pillar?"  
>"How do you know about that phrase – turn into a pillar of salt?" asked Athelstan when he had caught her up.<br>"De priests told us stories of deir god," smirked lass.  
>"And did it make you believe in Jesus Christ? What about baptising?" he hoped that he had just met a fellow Christian. Eha bursted into laughter, "No! We washed of de baptismal water and never used de names dat priests gave us. I must say deir stories about strange lands and people made me curious, but I'm not a believer. Didn't you listen nodhing I said before?" As fast as the hope was lit in Athelstan's heart it was also taken. Eha saw her companion's face turning dispirited, so she said, "I think it's time dat I return to Lagertha's. Good night!" She turn over and dashed back to the village.<p>

Athelstan stood there for a while thinking the thoughts which could let him sleep later that night. How can one have no gods to believe in? How come neither Viking gods nor the Christian god impressed Eha? 

* A folkloric depiction of soul re-entering into the body.


	2. Wolves and Sheep

It was a rainy evening, when Athelstan wandered around the forests practising his hunting skills. The forest echoed from the birds' song and the patter made by raindrops falling on the leaves and ground. A cracking sound could be heard from the distance and a lone wolf walked in the sight of the man. He started drawing his longbow and aimed at the wolf. Before he could shoot the arrow, he felt a touch on his shoulder and Eha's voice saying, "No." He undrew the bow and turned around to face the woman, who still was wearing a scarf over her face.  
>"Why? It's just a beast," Athelstan was confused,"Nothing, but an epitome of evil."<br>"An epitome of evil? Are you joking? Dey can hunt down creatures you'd never wish to see. Have you seen many wolves around here?" her voice expressed utter indignation.  
>"No, I haven't."<br>"See! Spare its life and you will not regret dat."  
>"What about farmer's and their herds?"<br>"If deir herd gets attacked den dey herd deir animals on de padh of wolves."  
>"Path of wolves?"<br>"Yes, wolves prefer deers and roes over sheep, but if a sheep get's on deir way..."  
>"They kill the sheep," he barged in realizing what she wanted to say. She only nodded. He took a look where he saw the beast moments ago, but it had moved along and couldn't be found anywhere. "I haven't seen you today. Where have you been?" he dropped the subject of wolves.<br>"I've been busy with witchcraft," Eha's eyes lightened up. He immidetly regreted that he ever asked that.  
>"You seem as you've seen a ghost. Are you afraid of me? Don't be, I mean no harm," she giggled, her eyes were glad. "Besides you are too," she stepped little closer,"... spellbinding to me." That said she burst into a genuine laughter that made even Athelstan smile.<br>"Am I dat different from Christian women?" she suddenly wanted to know. He somehow scrupled to tell her that he knew so little about women in general.  
>"A little bit," at least he thought so, "You are more of a free soul, I suppose."<br>"You suppose? But you aren't entirely sure?" she sensed his hesitasion. He felt how he was going to blush.  
>"I've spent most of my life celibacy," he looked away. Never had he been ashamed of his vow. Why did he suddenly feel so embarrassed?<br>"What's celibacy?" he heard from her lips.  
>"It's an oath before the God that obliges monks and priests not to marry, beget children nor any other way please their desires inappropriately" he interpreted.<br>"Does it oblige to all the Christian priests and monks?"  
>"Yes."<br>His answer enraged her. She turned around, took few steps and cried out loud in her anger, "Traitors! Liars!" she let herself fall on her knees and beat her fist against the ground.  
>Athelstan didn't understand what had just happened. He took his courage and hunkered down next to her, "What happened?"<br>" Priest... violated... ridiculed us... 'd be still home... Traitors!" was all he could understand from her sobbing.  
>"Please, calm down."<br>"I cannot," she shouted, then took a deep breath and pulled the scarf under her chin, "Dat's why I'm hiding face wheder wid paint or a scarf! I'm marked! Dey marked me!" Now he saw three long scars on both of her cheeks. She continued,"Do you know why did dey do it to me? Because one of the Christian priests who came to our homeland lured me and my younger nephew to his tent. I was fifteen years old den and he was only eight. Den he tried to rape us, but anoder priest happened to pass by, so he came to check, what were de noises all about. And guess who were to blame? Of course us! Suddenly we became the children of de devil, who tried to take dat priest to hell! Luckily my nephew managed to escape, but I wasn't dat lucky. Dey tied me up, took a knife and carved dose lines in my cheeks. Dey told that it was a mark of a beast dat I was. Dey lied about me in de village and dose dumb sheep believed dem! Cursed and humiliated I ran away from village, I ran so far dat I reached to de seashore. I saw Vikings' ships arriving, but I was too exhausted to flee. I hoped dey slice my droat, but instead dey captured and enslaved me."  
>She stopped and kept running down on her scarred cheeks.<br>Athelstan soothed Eha by hugging her, "It was not your fault."  
>"Whose den? Was it your god's will as dey would have said?" her voice was bitter. He remained quiet. Does one really deserve that cruel fate? How did those Christians falter so deeply? He had no answers for her questions nor his.<br>"If only I would have walked away with my cousin instead of entering dat damned tent," she broke the silence, "but you're right, it's not my fault." Without saying anything he helped her get up from the ground. She remained in his embrace while stood there surrounded by voices of the forest.  
>"Can I do anything for you?" he whispered.<br>"Accompany me back to the village, maybe?" she tried to smile.  
>He let her go and after he had collected his hunting equipment, they headed back to Kattegat.<p> 


	3. From Dusk

As they sat on the bench in the earl's hall Ragnar tried to discuss his further plans with Athelstan, but his partner kept looking around distrait. Realising his friend's mind was somewhere else other than in the conversation, the earl of Kattegat wanted to know, „Are you even listening me?" Athelstan snapped out of his thoughts, "What were you saying?" Lothbrok roared to laugh, "Friend, what's on your mind?"  
>"Nothing," muttered the Saxon.<br>"Well, there is something. You've been this since you came back from the woods with that funny servant of my former wife few days ago. You do know that she's a witch and had denied every god here?"  
>"Are you warning me against her? I don't ..."<br>"Yes, you do! You crave after her, don't you? Did she cast a spell on you?" argued Ragnar and grinned, "What was her name again? Iha?"  
>"It's Eha," corrected Athelstan bashfully and added, "I think I should go for a walk."<br>"Just don't forgot what I asked you to do," replied Lothbrok and scoffed knowing that his friend has no idea, what he "had to" do. The Saxon left the hall without noticing what Ragnar answered him.

He decided to saunter near the beach in the evening light. Thoughts about Eha, which he tried to repress, had haunted his mind for days. Her laughter, funny accent and voice ringed in his head. Attempt to not think about her seemed to torture his heart more than just letting this feeling take over him. _But she's doesn't believe in god_, went through his head, _is it right to love someone, whose soul will get no salvation and will only be damned_. _Is my soul salvation worthy anymore?_ _I doubt that valkyries would ever bring me in Valhalla either. _He sat sown on the sand gazing the play of colours on the sea, _What does she think about me now that she knows about the celibacy and that I was a Christian monk_, he wondered, _Am I just another sheep for her? I probably am a sheep.  
><em> Out of the blue he felt several knife like object surrounding his neck and a familiar voice whispering into his ear, "Chomp!" Constriction around his throat loosened and he turned his head toward the voice. He saw Eha holding a wolf's skull, which teeth fringed his neck a moment ago, in her hands and laughing.  
>"You are crazy!" he shouted and couldn't keep himself smiling to her.<br>"I wouldn't be a witch if I wasn't."  
>"So, tell me, witch, how is that we only meet when the sun is about set?" he wanted to know.<br>"I don't know," she put down the wolf skull and sat next to him, "Maybe because I am the Dusk."  
>"How can you be dusk?"<br>"My name, Eha, means dusk in my mother tongue."  
>He nodded, but he also remembered, how Ragnar made a mistake by saying her name, "Does 'iha' mean anything in your language?" Her face was stunned and cheeks reddened.<br>"Yes, 'desire'*," she murmured looking utterly baffled and repeated, "It means desire."  
>"Oh, that's why you're blushing," Athelstan smirked.<br>Realising her face was red and how the tables have turned, her turned pale instead as she had seen a ghost and she turned her eyes away from him while denying in a hushed tone of voice, "I am not."  
>"Well, not now, but you were," he objected, "and you were beautiful, even now you're beautiful."<br>"You shouldn't say dat."  
>"Why? Because you think I'm a monk, is that so?"<br>"Yes."  
>"I was, but I am not anymore. My God has probably abando..."<br>"No, he hasn't," she shook her head.  
>"How do you know?"<br>"I can hear how he is whispering to you dat you mustn't bond wid me. He's refers me as Hannah. "Hannah's soul is a damned soul," he keeps repeating."  
>"How can you hear the God?"<br>"Like you said I'm crazy and like I said I'm a witch."  
>"Can you also hear the Viking Gods?"<br>"Yes, I can."  
>"And what do they say?"<br>"Freyja is whispering to your odher ear and Freyr is encoring her."  
>"I see," Athelstan smiled, "Right now I only want to hear what Freyja has to say." Eha stayed silent.<br>"Do they ever speak with you?" he was curious.  
>"Your god or the Vikings'?"<br>"Both."  
>"No, dey only talk to the people, who believe in dem. I'm just eavesdropping if I choose to, but I can always hear dem."<br>"How do you cope with that?"  
>"Dere's a difference between listening and hearing. Widout listening I can almost shut dem up."<br>"Is there anyone who talks to you?"  
>"Yes, my ancestors."<br>"What do they say?"  
>"Dey warn me dat you are a lamb, who just wants be herded."<br>He sighed. _So it's true_, bitter thought went through his mind, _I knew I'm just a sheep__._  
>„But I refuse to listen to dem in dat matter," she continued and looked at him, „You are a stag." Athelstan closed his eyes in relief. The rare happiness of finding himself wrong made him smile. As he sat there eyes shut, he couldn't see how Eha nudges her body closer to his. "And I am a starving wolf," she murmured. Before he could open his eyes and ask, what she meant by that, he felt Eha's lips touching his and her hand brushing through his hair. He put his hands around her waist and lay down the sand with her as they kissed. She started to chuckle.<br>"I'm in love with you," he spoke softly into Eha's ear. She whispered back, "Shut up or I'll have to eat you up." They laughed together.

*"Iha" also could mean "beautiful" or "charming" in that time. (Even if it meant "beautiful" or "charming" it wouldn't change Eha's reaction, since her face was scarred .)


	4. Till Dawn

/** Sorry for the absence.  
>* I added some elements of folklore. Things kind of get magical realism-ish.<br>* Includes hunting, fighting and killing scenes.  
>* So be prepared. I warned you.<br>* (Also this chapter is more Eha's pov.)  
>* Have a nice day.<br>* MsPhilboydStudge  
>*

A cool sensation forced Eha to open her eyes. She sat up and looked around seeing that the fog was approaching from the sea and the sky wasn't dark anymore, but the sun hadn't risen yet either. She tried to wake up Athelstan, who was lying next to her on the sand, "Rise up! Dere's a fog coming, we need to leave now."  
>"What's coming?" he murmured shuteye, "Why can't we stay?"<br>"Fog's coming! We will be soaked if we keep sleeping here. We should get back to de village."  
>"Fine," he opened his eyes and smiled while getting up, "Can't we stay here a little longer? Until the sunrise or when the fog reaches here, which ever happens first?"<br>"Oh, alright," she sounded upset, "It's just I don't really like fog."  
>"Why?" he put his arm around her shoulder.<br>"Fog and heavy smoke always remind me of stories I've heard about Manala, de underworld."  
>"So your religion has Hell?"<br>"No, Manala is nodhing like hell or heaven. Dere's neither punishment nor pleasure, you just roam its dull roads forever. We're taught to not be afraid of the deadh and bravely face it, when it comes."  
>"Just like Vikings..."<br>"Almost, but deadh is numbness, an absence of life and I am not sure if I could endure the dreariness after I cross over."  
>Athelstan pulled Eha closer to him and kissed her forehead, "You don't need to worry about these things, not yet. You are young." She sighed like she would know something was about to happen.<br>"You're in conflict with different gods. Where would you go after you die?" he heard her asking after a while. It was an unpleasant question, something he didn't like to think about.  
>"I," he stopped for a moment, "... don't know anymore."<br>"Dat's no good," she stated, "You might get stuck dis way in here."  
>"Like ghost?" he looked at her bewildered.<br>"Or like somedhing worse," she said that like there was nothing special about that, "Eider way wolves will hunt you down and shred you to pieces." That gave him chills. She enjoyed seeing him confused and slightly terrified about her world, it made him even more intriguing to her.  
>"Will I be that something that I will never wish to encounter like you said? Will I become a demon? Are you sure that wolves could hunt down me then?"<br>"You ask awfully lot of questions. I don't dink you will become a demon, but I'll make sure dey hunt you down and release your spirit," she smirked, "Even if I need to turn myself into a wolf."  
>"You are saying that symbolically, aren't you?"<br>"Who knows? Like dey say, "Don't believe de words of wolf, mad are the words of wolf."* Oh, since we're talking about wolves, here, have dis," she pulled up her sleeve and unbound the lace of charm around her wrist.  
>"What's that for?" he wondered out loud while she tied the charm to his wrist.<br>"It will keep wolves away from you," was her answer. He took a closer look at the charm, which was made out of wooden slice and had a pentagram on it.****** "Rowan is a good tree for making amulets, it protects you from all sorts of dings," she looked back at the sea, "Will be surrounded by the fog soon. Do you still want to stay here?"  
>"We don't have to stay necessarily here. My heart will be glad anywhere as long as you are there with me," he fondled her cheek, "besides you always seem to disappear somewhere during day time." She silently tilted her head against his palm and smiled softly. He leaned closer and kissed her.<p>

Eha got back to the house, where Lagertha stayed, after daybreak. Hesitance and fear were wiped away from her. Only a blissful feeling and attraction toward that strange Christian was left in her soul. But the witch had no time to dwell in her recent memories.  
>"You weren't here at night. Where were you?" she suddenly heard her lady's demanding voice.<br>"I," she didn't expect to see Lagertha that early in the morning and hoped that lady hadn't noticed that she was absent, "... I was at de beach."  
>"At the beach? At the night and alone?"<br>"I wasn't alone," Eha blushed and looked away, "I was wid... Adelstan."  
>Lagertha only smirked, "Just don't forget your errands."<br>The witch packed her knives, quiver full of arrows and a bow, changed her clothes, painted her eyes and cheek scars black. Almost everything was ready for the ritual, only the main component was missing – the wolf.  
>None of her lady's furs were any use of the ritual. Back in her home land, she could use the skin, which was handed down from one generation to another and the bond with the original wolf was in her family's bloodline. She no more had her family's wolf skin nor did she have a blood bond with Lagertha's fur coats, which meant she had to recreate it all. She took her equipment and left the house.<br>The witch explored around in the middle of the forest searching for recent marks of animals. She tried to howl on top of her lungs. There was no answer. She waited for a while, then howled again. This time she heard a response from a wolf and soon she saw the beast. Eha took an arrow, drew her bow, aimed at her pray and shoot. A whimper came from the wolf.  
>The animal had already died when the huntress arrived. Eha cut up beast's chest, ripped out the heart and drank the blood out of it. She took off her cloak and removed a brooch off her shirt's collar relieving that way the scarification on her chest – an octagram. It was no mark of humiliation, but a sign, which held a great power within it. She tipped her fingers in the carcass where the heart once was and smeared the blood on the pagan sign, which had been cut into her skin.<br>Eha finished the skinning and cutting the meat off the bones after a while. She could have carried out the ritual without the bones, but including them would have made her stronger, so she started sewing the bones under the fur.  
>It was evening already, when Eha finished working at the wolf skin. Suddenly she heard someone approaching behind her. She grabbed the fur, turned around and gasped, "What are you doing here?"<br>"What are you... Why are you covered in blood? Are you injured?" even more shocked Athelstan ran to her.  
>"You weren't supposed to see me like dis..."<br>"Why are you holding that fur? Is it a wolf? Whose carcass is behind you?"  
>"You need to..."<br>"Are you alright?" he kissed her forehead, "What were you doing?"  
>"I am well, listen, you need to leave, now."<br>"Why?" he was still aghast. Eha kept quiet. She was afraid that her answer would scare him.  
>"Why must I go?" he repeated. She gathered her courage, "Because I was about to turn myself into a wolf." He stayed silent for few moments, his face was grim, "No... No, you cannot do that." He stepped back letting her go.<br>"What did you just say?" she didn't believe her ears, "I've done it before! Everyding is going to be the same after I turn back."  
>"No, you cannot do that. It's wrong!"<br>"Didn't you listen? I've done it before! It's in my blood!"  
>He only shook his head and left. Fighting with tears and anger she cried out in broken voice, "You damn lamb! <em>Susi sind söögu<em>***!" She then cursed herself for being too naive to trust a Christian.

Having no idea how much time she had spent sobbing and plucking grass from the ground in anger, she made up her mind that she was going to complete the ritual no matter what. After all that's what she had promised to her lady. Eha undressed herself and pulled on the fur. Soon she felt how the fur and bones were absorbed into her own skin and how her whole body started to ache during that metamorphosis. She remembered that it was the pain that shut down the human mind and awakened wolf's. As she screamed in pain she heard how her own voice turned more and more beast like.  
>Eha had forgotten how easy and enjoyable was to run as a wolf. Yet part of her body never knew how slowly and uncomfortably humans move. Inside her had been a conflict and the beast had won for now. Her mind was mixed suppressed memories and strong animal instincts. She only focused in the current moment. She felt sharp. Thunder roamed and it started to rain. Now her instinct told her to find food and place to sleep.<br>Aimlessly sauntering around in the dark forest she had gotten near Kattegat. The scent of food and hope to find shelter from heavy rain, which had soaked her fur, made the village tempting place to be. Lurking around the village she found a quiet place to sneak in the settlement. She picked up a familiar smell, even too familiar one. It was so recognisable she soon realised that it was her own. The scent trail lead her to a house in which she slipped in since that door was half-open. Her nails clattered on the wooden floor as she walked across the room. This house and its scents were so well-known to her, but she couldn't exactly remember it. She heard footsteps coming from the room next to the one she was in. Oddly she experienced know threat.  
>"I see your hunt was successful," said the woman who approached. Her voice and smell brought back strange memories, in which Eha didn't feel like a wolf, but more like... a human. She indeed was a human and now she was a wolf also. Her human mind became aware itself once more and cooperated with the beast she had turned into. She was a werewolf.<p>

Next evening, when the sun was down fully armored Lagertha came to Eha, who was still in her beast form, and told, "It's now time to fight. The men of king Horik are in Kattegat already. Fulfil your promise and I will let you turn you back to human as I promised. Go now and hunt down as many aliens as you can." She opened the door and the wolf ran out.  
>In the shadows she prowled around the village. She stopped and hid behind a barrel – a group of four warriors were in front of her. They hadn't noticed her yet. Their scent and faces were strange to her. The men split up, one of them turned to the lane were she was. She let the man pass by her. She trailed after him and got ready for the attack. Eha pounced to his back, threw him off the balanced, clasped her teeth into his neck and choked him, before he could make any strident noise.<br>She decided to look for the other three Horik's men. She ran to the road cross where she saw them before. Kattegat echoed through the screams and metal rattle. Sounds that loud distracted and confused the wolf side of Eha. In that moment she heard an arrow zip by her. At once she fled towards to lane where she thought the men had gone. She ran until she saw a bunch of Horik's and Ragnar's warriors fighting ahead. Unhesitatingly she grappled her jaws around the nearest enemy's wrist, forcing him to drop his axe. She kept trying to tear the man on the ground while getting bashed with a shield. Eventually she didn't manage to finish him since one of the earl's men prodded him with a sword.  
>All of the sudden, a sharp pain went throw Eha's back limb and she could smell her own blood. She about-faced the man, who had wounded her, and jumped at his chest. The impact pushed the opponent over. She bit neck and strangled him. The local warriors, all but one, who was dead on the ground amongst the three king's men, had gone away.<br>She kept moving in the shadows since couldn't flee fast enough anymore if she had to encounter larger group of intruders. The cut and hunger tired her. As she kept patrolling in the dark she noticed heavily injured Horik's man lying in the middle of the road. The instincts of a wild animal took power over her. She approached the victim, as there was nobody else on the lane to treating her and killed him. She devoured the flesh of the deceased. As she feasted, a group of king's warriors came to same lane. "Kill the bitch!" one of them shouted as he saw a wolf eating his companion's dead body. Someone drew his bow and shoot at Eha. The arrow pierced through her already injured leg. She attempted to get away from their eyesight. Another arrow was shot. It missed her. She limped as fast as possible trying to find a way to escape. She tripled behind a corpse while trying to leap over it. That's when a new arrow hit her in the shoulder. She fell over. The men started laughing, but their noise was interrupted by earl's men onslaught. Soon the battle noises faded away. Only the growing pain was left. Eha tried to get up, but the arrow in her shoulder ruptured wound even more. She gave up.

* A proverb.  
>** Rowan branch with pentagrams engraved in it were used by shepherds to keep wolves away from the cattle and herd.<br>*** "Let the wolf eat you." A curse.

/Next chapter will be the last one.


End file.
